The present invention relates generally to capacity and power planning for telecommunication systems, and more particularly, to a system and method for intelligently managing the power distribution for mobile carriers under the control of a Multi-Channel Power Amplifier System (MCPA).
In a telecommunication system, the carrier power amplifiers are designed to deliver a specific RF power level that is guaranteed to be available on a per carrier basis (i.e., a per-channel power output level). With the introduction of base station dynamic power control feature, the MCPA module can be pooled together and serve as a shared power source for multiple mobile carriers satisfying transmission power requirements of all the carriers under the control. The MCPA system usually connects to multiple transceiver units, each transceiver being responsible for providing the planned power to a particular mobile carrier. The maximum power any transceiver can output, or any carrier can receive, is based on an initialization process of the MCPA system.
Conventionally, the MCPA initialization process instructs the power available to be evenly distributed among all mobile carriers. The MCPA system was designed to adjust an amplification gain automatically to achieve the target output power level during the initialization process. This initialization process requires an operator using a portable PC to interface with the MCPA system while a predetermined number of mobile carriers are transmitting. The operator shall identify a desired number of channels for the covered mobile carriers and the output power level per carrier. The number of channels selected in this process usually refers to the number of channels that are currently transmitting.
Since the MCPA system pools together multiple MCPA modules to form a single power source, when one MCPA module goes down due to some unexpected failure, the maximum MCPA output power for each channel is subsequently reduced in half according to the current art. This indiscriminating reduction of power causes a waste of available power of the MCPA system.
In another scenario, when the capacity of a module is overdriven, there are more channels or mobile carriers that are transmitting (for example, when more mobile carriers are brought up or when EDGE radios are used under certain circumstances), the MCPA will reduce the output a power to each channel (or each mobile carrier) across the board so that it can accommodate the added mobile carriers. This reduction of power will cause the MCPA to xe2x80x9cre-initializexe2x80x9d the maximum per-channel power output to a reduced power level.
This behavior of the MCPA is not desirable in that an unscheduled reduction of power shrinks a cell site footprint set by the power level of the MCPA, and some mobile carriers can simply be dropped or calls can be interrupted.
Furthermore, with traffic being uniformly distributed and nonlocalized, not all mobile carriers will require maximum base station transmit power at the same time. Therefore, not all transceivers will be at their maximum transmit power at all times, which means there will be unused power remaining that could be used elsewhere.
What is needed is an intelligent management of power output from the MCPA.
A method and system is provided for intelligently managing a multi-channel power amplifier (MCPA) in a telecommunications network. The MCPA usually has a plurality of amplifier modules pooled together to provide power to mobile carriers under its coverage.
In one example of the present invention, during an initialization process of the MCPA, a maximum value of per-channel power output under the coverage of the MCPA is determined and stored. Upon a failure of at least one amplifier module, a total power available from the MCPA is calculated. A total requested power of mobile carriers is also obtained upon the failure of the amplifier module. Each mobile carrier is provided with the stored maximum value of per-channel power output if the obtained total requested power of mobile carriers is less than or equal to the calculated total power available from the MCPA. If the obtained total number of mobile carriers is more than the stored maximum number of mobile carriers, the per-channel power output for each mobile carrier output will be reduced.
In another example of the present invention, during an initialization process of the MCPA, a maximum value of per-channel power output under the coverage of the MCPA is determined and stored. Upon a failure of at least one amplifier module, a total power available from the MCPA is calculated. What is also identified is a maximum number of mobile carriers supportable by the MCPA upon the failure of the amplifier module. Further, a total number of the active mobile carriers is identified, and each mobile carrier is provided with the stored per-channel power output if the identified total number of active mobile carriers is less than or equal to the calculated maximum number of mobile carriers.
If the identified total number of active mobile carriers is more than the calculated maximum number of mobile carriers, the per-channel power output for each mobile carrier output is reduced.
In yet another example of the present invention, during an initialization process of the MCPA, a maximum value of per-channel power output under the coverage of the MCPA and a maximum number of mobile carriers supportable by the MCPA are determined and stored. The total number of the active mobile carriers will be constantly monitored, and the per-channel power output for each mobile carrier will be adjusted according to a change of the monitored total number of the active mobile carriers. If the monitored total number of the active mobile carriers is less than or equal to the stored maximum number of mobile carriers supportable by the MCPA, the per-channel power output for each mobile carrier is maintained at the level of the stored per-channel power output. If the monitored total number of the active mobile carriers is more than the stored maximum number of mobile carriers supportable by the MCPA, the per-channel power output is reduced evenly for each mobile carrier.
As an alternative, the per-channel power output can be reduced evenly for each mobile carrier if the total power available at the MCPA is less than or equal to a total power requested by each monitored mobile carrier. As another alternative, a Bit Error Rate of each active mobile carrier can be monitored, and a supply of the power from the MCPA to a mobile carrier can be eliminated if the monitored Bit Error Rate is more than the predetermined value.